Scar tissue is widely found in soft tissue portions of the human anatomy, such as muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Formation of scar tissue is a natural byproduct of injury and concomitant inflammation of a soft tissue area. Scar tissue often prevents muscles, tendons and ligaments from lengthening and contracting properly, which in turn causes decreased range of motion as well as pain. Furthermore, the build-up over time of scar tissue tends to cause ongoing pain even when the injury no longer exists. Accordingly, there is a need for removal or reduction of scar tissue.
Scar tissue is typically removed by a process called soft tissue therapy, which provides for manual massage of the skin over the soft tissue area affected to release scar tissue adhesions, thereby enhancing length in the soft tissue. Cross-frictional massage, deep muscle massage and rolfing are known types of soft tissue massage. The application of the correct amount of pressure, accurately targeted to the affected area is crucial for the efficient release of scar tissue. However, it is often quite difficult to accurately target scar tissue with the human hand. Additionally, applying the requisite pressure to an affected area may be quite difficult using manual massage. This problem becomes even more pronounced when a therapist is required to treat many patients in a single day, since the muscles in the hands become tired through constant use.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need in the art for an aid to therapists engaging in soft tissue therapy. Prior art devices such as those shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,346 to Graston have been used to aid in soft tissue massage. However, many of these prior art devices do not enable a therapist to accurately target a wide variety of soft tissue injuries. While the instruments shown in Graston may be suitable for some soft tissue areas such as the knee, other soft tissue areas may be more amenable to instruments having different contact surfaces. Accordingly, there is a further need for an instrument system that enables a therapist to manipulate a plurality of soft tissue areas with simple but efficient instruments.